Equilibrium

Equilibrium   oil   30 x 42

is the title of this painting of a kayaker.  It also describes what I lost during the very long process of painting it.  Each pass offered some good passages, but was, overall, not acceptable to my sense of correctness.  Again.  Again and again....throughout the long hot summer.  I kept going back to my initial sketch to repaint as that usually does the trick.  My sketches are done so spontaneously...the goal is usually an even distribution of values.  I kept trying to solve the dilemma with color, even though I have never really been a colorist.  Eventually I realized that I had to depart from the initial sketch although, while powerful, destroyed the mood of this enthusiastic boater on a hot summer day.  I am, at long last, pleased. 

I am now realizing that I needed to declare a value dominance of the work, one that supports the mood that I am trying to achieve,  in addition to the playful distribution and linkage of values. 

This lesson was learned the hard way.

Dog Days

Three Hot Chicks   oil/canvas   30 x 40 x 1.5

are upon us.  Some scenes are recreated again and again, generation to generation.  Such is the case, I believe, with the patio/deck/family reunion/lawn chair scenarios that one can see not only every weekend on a walk around town, but memorialized in photos albums everywhere.  As a person of Nordish complexion, I  have to say that summer heat is something to deal with, a bit of a template, on how I perceive the months at hand.  This work was inspired by an old family photograph.  I like the organic figures paired with the geometric chairs, a polar-oppositional composition that I cannot resist.  Detail was removed as much as possible.  The color palette was changed from cool to warm.  A sketch was created attempting to link the three figures, as well as to set up a playful rhythm of values, with the lights at the top, leaving the women susceptible to the sunlight.  Shapes were simplified.  Although most of the problems were worked out by the sketch, there were still problem areas, mostly involving the extreme foreshortening of the legs in the center figure.  Layers were worked and reworked Swiss-cheese style, while trying to retain passages that appealed to me.  I think I am finished.....now for a glass of iced tea.